Carlsbad, NM: March 11, 2021 – Keep America Beautiful®, the nation’s leading community improvement nonprofit organization, has presented Keep Carlsbad Beautiful with its 2020 President’s Circle Award. The President’s Circle Award recognizes exemplary performance by certified affiliates of Keep America Beautiful in creating clean, green, and beautiful communities.
In qualifying for the President’s Circle Award, Keep Carlsbad Beautiful has met standards of merit of Keep America Beautiful by conducting an annual Community Appearance Index; calculating the affiliate’s cost/benefit ratio; and administering initiatives to end littering, improve recycling, and beautify Carlsbad, NM’s community. Keep Carlsbad Beautiful is one of nearly 700 community-based affiliates in the Keep America Beautiful network whose programs, initiatives, and efforts, supported by millions of volunteers, help transform public spaces into beautiful places.
“Each year, our dynamic affiliate network carries out our shared mission at the state, county, and municipal levels across the country,” said Keep America Beautiful President and CEO Helen Lowman, PhD. “By engaging volunteers, building partnerships, and executing innovative programming, our affiliates demonstrate purpose and create collective impact through a national movement with local execution built around mutually reinforcing activities.”
“Keep Carlsbad Beautiful works dililgently year round to encourage residents and visitors to take actions every day to improve our public appearance by making proper choices with waste disposal, so this award is very much appreciated! We have a great network of local individuals, businesses, and civic groups that have contributed to this award,” says Mary Garwood, Keep Carlsbad Beautiful Director.
Community Appearance Index-Litter Index: The Keep America Beautiful Community Appearance Index-Litter Index is a tool used by its affiliates to visually assess overall appearance of communities through indicators such as litter, illegal signs, graffiti, abandoned or junk vehicles, and outside storage. A team of community, business and government representatives conduct the visual analysis using a scoring system ranging from 1-4, with “1” rated as “no litter” to “4” being “extremely littered.” Each year, affiliates grade their communities during a drive-by examination of the same areas at the same time of the year. This provides an indication of the success of each community’s anti-littering education and other anti-littering programs.
Cost/Benefit Analysis: This measurement tool enables Keep America Beautiful affiliates to demonstrate their ability to leverage community resources by determining the dollar value returned to the community for every dollar invested by government.
The Keep Carlsbad Beautiful committee meets to address local issues regarding community appearance and aesthetic improvement ideas. KCB heads up the annual Pecos River clean-up event called “Riverblitz.” In which community members lend a hand to remove litter and illegal dumping at spots all along the widely used river. KCB also has headed up our community labyrinth project, electrical mural box projects with partners Carlsbad MainStreet & Pearl of the Pecos Arts & Culture District, Earth Day events, several community litter clean-up opportunities, and partners with several other local organizations in its efforts to engage residents and visitors to take pride in Carlsbad and Southeast New Mexico & keep it clean for all to enjoy.
About Keep America Beautiful
Keep America Beautiful, the nation’s leading community improvement nonprofit organization, inspires and educates people to take action every day to improve and beautify their community environment. Established in 1953, Keep America Beautiful strives to End Littering, Improve Recycling, and Beautify America’s Communities. We believe everyone has a right to live in a clean, green and beautiful community, and shares a responsibility to contribute to that vision. The organization is driven by the work and passion of nearly 700 Keep America Beautiful affiliates, millions of volunteers, and the collaborative support of corporate partners, social and civic service organizations, academia, municipalities, elected officials, and individuals. Join us on Facebook, Instagram, Twitter and YouTube. Donate and take action at kab.org.
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